By Maarten Roos

The continued pervasiveness of counterfeiting in China is not only a problem of law, but also one of enforcement. While China’s laws and regulations conform to the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) and other widely accepted international principles, certain parts of China’s protection mechanism have proven ineffective. Common examples are the high standards for criminal liability of counterfeiters, the high burden of evidence to prove bad faith registrations, and the difficulty to prove damages in civil proceedings. On the other hand, it is abundantly clear that the police, administrative authorities and courts often lack the resources, the knowledge or the determination to effectively combat infringements.

China’s own continuing development, and to a lesser extent international pressure, will gradually lead to improvements on the above issues, but this is not a process individual intellectual property (IP) owners can influence. Read the rest of “Protection vs. Enforcement: Where to start your China IPR Strategy? Part I” or post a comment

By Alexander de Nerée

A drawback of my, in itself interesting profession, is that I encounter a lot of lying in my daily work. Contrary to popular believe it is not so much the lawyers that do the lying. Although I have to admit lawyers are generally not easily persuaded to part with information, let alone the truth, I prefer to think of what we do as skilful editing of the information to fit a certain version of the truth. No harm in that. That is what lawyers are paid to do.

But in order to edit the information, you will have to obtain the information first. And that is not as easy as it may sound. First there is the filter of the client’s hurt feelings that makes it difficult to obtain any relevant information. In its strong believe of the correctness and the fairness of its own position, the client filters out anything that appears to be in its disadvantage.

“They never complained about the quality of our products and now, out of the bleu, they want their money back and claim damages! That is unreasonable.” In itself  this is a good point which could legally be relevant but not if Read the rest of “Lying” or post a comment

“Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company’s brand.” –Wikipedia. This is the name of the game for China and for the most part, the products you buy here in the United States are not really manufactured by the name on the label. In some instances most of the big box or clothing stores you frequent have an inventory almost entirely made up of their own products under their own brand or multiple unaffiliated brands. This is not just a game for the big boys, this can be accomplished with…

Read the rest of “Private Labeling & Criteria for Selecting the Right Manufacturer” or post a comment >>

By Alexander de Neree

Besides the human tragedy, there has always been a certain irony in the fact that the communist system has never been able to achieve its main goal: to bring prosperity to the masses.

More specifically in China, there first where the farmers that did not particularly benefited from the revolution that was undertaken in their name. And now, much to Beijing’s chagrin one imagines, one scandal after another regarding the maltreatment of workers hits the international press circuit.

But, help is underway. Starting January 1, 2008, the new labour contract law will come in force in China. Surprisingly it has many characteristics of the Dutch system which will give rise to some alarm among employers familiar with the Dutch system. Read the rest of “Workers’ paradise” or post a comment

Getting prepared for your annual audit inspection

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

All foreign invested businesses in China are required to prepare annual financial statements, including balance sheets and income statements for their annual Chinese audit. Such accounts must be in accordance with the Chinese accounting standards for business enterprises – there are now no differences between standards for domestic and foreign enterprises. Foreign companies, including their legally responsible persons, must take full responsibility for the truthfulness, legitimacy and completeness of these financial statements. These documents must be completed ahead of the submission of consolidated accounts for tax purposes by the end of April every year, for the financial calendar year ending the previous December 31.

These statements will be used for computing the taxable and distributable profit. Accordingly, an annual audit by a firm of certified public accountants registered in the PRC is required under Chinese law.

There are a number of areas where you need to take particular care and where there are some differences between Chinese and Western accounting practice. These are guidelines only as every business is Read the rest of “China’s audit regulations – Filings shortly due” or post a comment